Australia’s crankiest crocodile, Elvis, reinforced his reputation today when keepers gave the 4.5 metre crocodile a quarter of a cow. The 500kg beast gained world-wide attention when he almost ate his keeper’s lawnmower in 2011, earning him the title of Australia’s crankiest crocodile.
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Elvis proceeded to play tug of war with five keepers and performed the death-roll to the gasps of onlookers. The croc then chased keepers from the yard making sure they knew that Elvis was still the king.
“Once Elvis grabbed the carcass there was no letting go until he got a mouthful of food. I’m not going to lie, Elvis got very excited and charged towards me after he death-rolled and I ended up over the fence,” Daniel Rumsey, head of reptiles at the Australian Reptile Park said.
“We gave Elvis the best possible treat ever – which for crocs is a quarter of a cow. We threw it in the water, he grabbed it, next minute he’s death rolling.
“We love getting Elvis fired up for holidays and it provides excellent enrichment for him. He thinks that he just grabbed a large prey item, dragged it in the water and drowned it then ripped off a piece. This is a natural behaviour that we see in wild crocs and it’s awesome to see Elvis mimic this behaviour.
Crocodiles are superior hunters possess larger than average size teeth and a jaw capable of crushing the bones of large prey, which General Manager, Tim Faulkner, said “the bone crunching sound makes my bones shudder”
Elvis came to The Australian Reptile Park from the Northern Territory where he was causing havoc to fisherman’s boats. He has a reputation for keeping staff on their toes, so the process of giving him such a large carcass needs to be cautiously thought out.
Saltwater crocodiles were once hunted to the brink of extinction in Australia, but following their status to be legally protected in QLD, NT and WA, their numbers have made a full recovery and they are now listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
